Sustainable wine stores in Melbourne where you can refill your bottles

What’s the most environmentally friendly wine packaging? The answer may surprise you! Turns out recycling isn’t the final word in sustainability. Reusing is the way to go… and that’s why I love these sustainable wine stores in Melbourne where you can refill bottles.

There are many facets to sustainability in wine, starting with the techniques used in grape growing, harvesting and wine production. All of these can be invisible to us as consumers unless it’s on the label or the website (if we go hunting for it). But one tangible aspect – that you may never have given a second thought to – is packaging.

Glass bottles are the norm, but these days there are also options like cans, casks, flat plastic bottles and soft plastic pouches on the market. So what kind of wine packaging is the most sustainable?

I’ll look at that question in a separate post, but the real answer is… avoiding single-use packaging altogether. The best solution to reduce the impact of wine packaging is to change the system, and do as our grandparents did with milk back in the day: just reuse bottles. (Yes, everything old is new again.)

This post is all about several awesome sustainable wine sellers in Melbourne that all provide a bottle refill service with wine on tap. These legends are rejigging the supply chain to save the world grandma-style: by helping us use what we already have instead of endlessly filling our bins.

Why does this matter? Well, reusing bottles has a lot less impact than recycling them. 

Australians purchased 540 million litres of wine last financial year (according to Wine Australia): that’s equivalent to 720 million standard bottles. Think of the amount of energy it takes to haul truckloads of those empty bottles to recycling facilities, crush them, melt them and make them right back into bottles. We can skip all those steps by simply taking our empty bottle back to our favourite wine store and filling it back up. Plus, filling bottles in store means that trucks can be filled with more wine (transported in giant containers) and less packaging – reducing the emissions associated with transporting a given volume of the good stuff.

And a bonus of wine being sold on tap is you can generally try before you buy!

So head down to these sustainable Melbourne wine stores with refill services to find your new favourite drop and enter the era of waste-free wine.

ReWine, Melbourne CBD and Brunswick East

ReWine redesigned their wine supply chain to be completely zero-waste all the way from the winery to your glass. 

They work with their winemakers to keep the impact minimal in everything from land management practices through to transport. The wines arrive in store in big reusable barrels. Walk in and you’ll see their locally-made drops stored in oak barrels with taps along the wall. Once you’ve chosen your fave, they’ll fill up a bottle (made from recycled glass, of course) that you can return to be refilled over and over. 

The wines range from the familiar (like chardonnay and cab sav) to the obscure (ever heard of brachetto, ansonica or falanghina?). As well as reds, whites and rosés, there are sparkling, natural and fortified wines. With 25-odd options currently on offer, you can find something for any mood. And the price point is friendly, with most of the wines in the $20 to $30 range and a few dollars off if you’re refilling a bottle. Their “bloody good” house red and whites are a steal at just $8 a bottle for refills ($11 new)!

You can try their wines for free in store, and order a glass to sip alongside some tapas, pizza or a cheese platter while you’re there. Book in for the tasting sessions offered every Thursday to sample a selection under the guidance of a friendly staff member, with the option of paired cheeses. 

Locations: 460 Queen Street, Melbourne CBD (in the Queen Victoria Market precinct) and 522 Lygon Street, Brunswick East  

Glou, Collingwood

Glou is a wine bar and shop supplying sustainably- and ethically-made wines with minimal intervention and minimal waste.

Expect a range of interesting natural wines on tap, with the bar staff only too happy to explain what’s what and help you find something to your taste. Drop in for a recommendation or book a table to enjoy a glass and some nibbles inside the minimalist, industrial-style bar or out on the footpath (where you might catch some Melbourne sunshine in the afternoon).

They have a unique bottle – squat and brown, more like a beer growler – and their sizes are a bit different than the usual too. There’s a 500mL bottle (perfect for solo sipping throughout the week) or bigger 1L and 2L formats (great for a dinner party). This requires a little bit of maths to compare the pricing to standard bottles, but I’ve done the calculations and found their wines tend to equate to around $30-$45 for 750mL. There’s also an $8 deposit for a bottle, which you can get back upon return.

They offer delivery and bottle collection within 10km of their store.

Location: 310 Smith Street, Collingwood

Oak + Young, Fairfield

Oak + Young is a neighbourhood wine shop that looks like many others at first, with a curated selection of trendy bottles. But then you notice the wall of taps offering a rotating lineup of 20 wines as part of their refillable bottle program. All are small batch and vegan, with most made in Australia but a few from further afield, like Italy. There’s a flat cost of just $24 for your first bottle or $19 for a refill – bargain!

You can sit outside on a weekend afternoon to have a bottle with no corkage fee, and they’ll even reseal it for you to take home if you don’t finish it.

Location: 107 Station Street, Fairfield

Get on the path to more sustainable sipping with these wonderful wine refills in Melbourne, showcasing wine regions in Victoria and beyond!